An Initial Public Offering (IPO) is the process through which a private company sells its shares to the public for the first time and gets listed on a stock exchange such as the NSE or BSE. For the company, an IPO raises fresh capital, provides an exit to early investors and builds public profile. For you, the investor, it is an opportunity to buy into a business at the entry point of its life as a listed company. This live dashboard tracks every mainboard and SME IPO in India for 2026 — those that are open for subscription now, the ones lined up next, and the issues that have just closed or listed — with the dates, price band, lot size, issue size, grey market premium (GMP) and status you need to make a decision in one place.
The Indian primary market has been one of the busiest in the world in recent years, with a steady pipeline of large mainboard offerings and a record number of smaller SME issues. That activity creates opportunity, but it also makes it easy to act on hype rather than homework. This guide walks through everything a 2026 investor needs to know — what an IPO is, how the process works, how to apply, how allotment is decided, how to read the numbers in the tables above, and the common mistakes that cost first-time applicants money.
Mainboard IPO vs SME IPO
Indian IPOs come in two broad categories, and this dashboard lets you filter between them using the Mainboard and SME tabs above. Mainboard IPOs are large offerings from established companies that list on the main platforms of the NSE and BSE. They must meet strict eligibility norms — a minimum post-issue paid-up capital, a track record, and a minimum of 1,000 allottees. The retail application size is small (roughly ₹14,000–₹15,000 for one lot), and popular issues are often oversubscribed many times over.
SME IPOs, by contrast, are smaller issues from emerging businesses that list on the dedicated NSE Emerge or BSE SME platforms. The regulatory thresholds are lighter, the issue sizes are far smaller, and — critically for retail investors — the minimum application value is much larger, typically ₹1 lakh to ₹2 lakh for a single lot. SME IPOs can deliver spectacular listing gains, but they are also thinly traded, carry higher risk, have less analyst coverage, and suit investors who understand the business and can hold through volatility. Always confirm which board an IPO belongs to before you apply, because the application size and risk profile are very different.
How an IPO works, step by step
Every mainboard IPO follows a well-defined regulatory path. Understanding it helps you time your research and act with confidence:
- DRHP (Draft Red Herring Prospectus): The company files a draft offer document with SEBI. This is when an IPO first appears on the radar, though dates and price are not yet fixed.
- SEBI observations & RHP: After SEBI reviews the draft and issues its observations, the company files the Red Herring Prospectus (RHP) with the final structure, price band and dates.
- Anchor allocation: One working day before the issue opens, large institutional "anchor" investors are allotted shares. Strong anchor demand is generally a positive signal.
- Bidding window: The IPO opens for public subscription for at least three working days. You place a bid within the price band, usually at the cut-off.
- Basis of allotment: After the issue closes, the registrar finalises allotment, typically within a couple of working days.
- Refunds & credit: Un-allotted money is unblocked and allotted shares are credited to your demat account.
- Listing: The shares begin trading on the exchange, usually within about three working days of the close under the current T+3 timeline.
Investor categories and reservation
Shares in a book-built IPO are reserved across three main categories. Qualified Institutional Buyers (QIBs) — mutual funds, banks, insurers and foreign portfolio investors — typically get up to 50% of a mainboard issue. Non-Institutional Investors (NIIs or HNIs), who apply for more than ₹2 lakh, get around 15%, split into small-HNI and big-HNI buckets. Retail Individual Investors (RIIs), who apply for up to ₹2 lakh, get around 35%. The reservation percentages are shown on each IPO’s detail page and directly influence your odds of allotment: a heavily QIB-driven issue leaves less for retail, while a strong retail reservation improves small-investor chances.
How to apply for an IPO in 2026
Applying is entirely digital. You need a demat account, a trading account and a UPI ID (or an ASBA-enabled bank account):
- Open the IPO section of your broker app (Zerodha, Groww, Upstox, Angel One and others) or your bank’s net-banking ASBA facility.
- Select the IPO, choose your quantity in lots, and bid at the cut-off price (recommended for retail so you are not left out if the price is set at the top of the band).
- Enter your UPI ID and submit. Approve the mandate request in your UPI app — this blocks the amount in your bank account without debiting it.
- The blocked funds are debited only if shares are allotted; otherwise the block is released after the basis of allotment.
You can apply until the cut-off time on the final day, but applying a day early avoids last-minute UPI mandate congestion, which is a frequent cause of failed applications.
How IPO allotment is decided
When a retail category is oversubscribed, allotment is done by a computerised lottery in which every valid application is treated as one lot, regardless of how many lots you applied for. That means applying for more than one lot does not improve your chance of getting at least one lot in a heavily oversubscribed retail issue — it only helps in undersubscribed or lightly subscribed issues. A common strategy for families is therefore to apply from multiple demat accounts held by different individuals, each with a single lot. You can check your allotment on the registrar’s website (such as MUFG Intime or KFin Technologies) using your PAN or application number once the basis of allotment is published.
Key IPO terms you should know
A quick glossary makes the tables and prospectus far easier to read. Price band is the range within which you bid; the cut-off price is the final price the company sets, usually the top of the band. Lot size is the minimum number of shares you must apply for. Fresh issue means new shares that raise capital for the company; an offer for sale (OFS) means existing shareholders selling their stake, where the money goes to them, not the company. Face value is the nominal value of a share. Book-built issue means the price is discovered through bidding within a band; a fixed-price issue sets a single price up front. Subscription tells you how many times the issue was bid for, by category.
Grey Market Premium (GMP) — use it carefully
The GMP column shows the unofficial premium at which IPO shares are changing hands in the grey market before listing. It is a rough, real-time gauge of demand: a price band of ₹315 with a GMP of ₹42 implies an expected listing near ₹357. However, GMP is unregulated, opaque and highly volatile — it can swing sharply in a day and is frequently wrong on listing day. Treat it as one small sentiment indicator, never as a guarantee. Our dedicated IPO GMP page breaks down the day-wise trend for each issue and includes a calculator.
What to check before you apply
Beyond the buzz, read the RHP and weigh a few fundamentals: the company’s revenue and profit trend over three years; the purpose of the issue (fresh capital for growth is generally healthier than a pure offer-for-sale exit); valuation versus listed peers (P/E, RoE, RoNW); promoter background and post-issue holding; and the specific risk factors the company itself discloses. Subscription figures — especially strong QIB demand — are a useful confirmation of institutional confidence and are published live during the bidding window.
IPO grading and analyst views — how much weight to give them
Around every major IPO you will see brokerage "subscribe / avoid" notes, media coverage and social-media opinion. These can be a useful starting point, but read them critically. Sell-side notes sometimes have relationships with the issuer; anonymous online tips have no accountability at all. Where several independent analysts converge on the same concern — for example, a stretched valuation or a large promoter exit — that consensus is worth noting. Ultimately, use outside opinion to generate questions, then answer them yourself from the RHP. An IPO you understand and can justify in your own words is one you can hold through the inevitable post-listing volatility.
Common mistakes first-time IPO investors make
The same errors recur with almost every popular issue. Applying only on GMP or social-media hype, without reading a single page of the RHP, is the biggest one. Bidding below cut-off to "save money" and then being excluded from allotment is another. Over-committing capital to a single speculative SME issue, ignoring the large application size, catches many. So does forgetting to approve the UPI mandate in time, or applying from a bank that does not support IPO blocks. Finally, many investors treat every listing as a guaranteed profit and are surprised when a hyped IPO lists flat or at a discount — which happens regularly.
Listing gains versus long-term investing
There are two broad reasons to apply: to flip on listing day for a quick gain, or to own a quality business for the long term. Both are valid, but they call for different mindsets. Listing-gain hunters live and die by demand signals — subscription, anchor book and GMP — and should size positions accordingly. Long-term investors should largely ignore the listing-day noise and focus on whether the business, at the IPO valuation, is one they would happily hold for years. Being clear about which game you are playing before you apply prevents panic decisions on listing day.
After allotment: listing day and beyond
If you are allotted shares, they are credited to your demat account a day or two before listing, and you can sell them any time from the listing session onward. On listing day the exchange runs a special pre-open session that discovers the opening price from buy and sell orders; the stock then trades normally. Decide your plan in advance: a listing-gain investor may sell into the opening strength, while a long-term holder simply lets the position ride. If you are not allotted, the blocked amount is released back to your bank balance, usually within a day of the basis of allotment — no action is needed on your part.
IPO vs FPO vs OFS
An IPO is a company’s first public share sale. A Follow-on Public Offer (FPO) is a further sale of shares by an already-listed company. An Offer for Sale (OFS) is a mechanism, often used by promoters of listed companies, to sell existing shares through the exchange. Many IPOs are a mix of a fresh issue and an OFS component; the split matters, because only the fresh-issue portion brings new money into the business to fund growth or reduce debt.
Taxation of IPO gains in 2026
If you sell listed shares within 12 months, gains are short-term and taxed at the applicable short-term capital-gains rate for listed equity; holding beyond 12 months makes gains long-term, taxed at the prevailing long-term rate above the annual exemption threshold. Listing-day "flipping" is therefore taxed as short-term. Tax rules change from time to time, so confirm the current rates and thresholds with a qualified tax adviser before you file your return.
How to use this IPO dashboard
The tables above are grouped so you can act quickly: Open IPOs are accepting bids right now; Upcoming IPOs are announced or SEBI-cleared and opening soon; and Recently Closed / Listed shows issues awaiting or fresh off their debut. Use the Mainboard/SME filter to focus on the segment you invest in, and click any company name to open its full page with the timeline, lot-size table, subscription status, financials, valuation, objects of the issue, promoters, registrar details, our review and FAQs. All data updates as companies file with SEBI and the exchanges.
Disclaimer: This page is for information and education only and is not investment advice or a recommendation to buy or sell any security. IPO investments are subject to market risk. Figures such as dates, price band and GMP are tentative and drawn from public filings and market sources; always verify them in the official RHP before investing.